Pakistan: A patchwork of countries, struggles under the old systemPeshawar has seen and heard
Pakistan: A Puzzle of History, Struggling with Stereotypes – Peshawar.
It was thought that Peshawar would fall into a depression due to terrorism, but the reality is that the city remains extremely vibrant, with the sixth largest population in the country and the ninth largest capital.
Despite the chaos of the city, commerce is thriving, with shops of all kinds. In 1947, the British "Mountbatten Plan" opened the curtain on the partition of India and Pakistan, and Pakistan was able to become independent.
The toponym suffix "-stan" was widely spread in Eurasia along with Persian culture, and generally means "the land of xxx (a certain people)".
For example, "Kazakhstan" is the land of the Kazakhs, "Tajikistan" is the land of the Tajiks, and "Tatarstan" in Russia also means "the land of the Tatars".
The word "Palestine" is a special one, coming from the Hebrew word for a group of maritime peoples living in the land of Canaan. In 135 AD, the Roman Empire renamed the province of Judea Palestine in order to erase the national memory of the Jews.
Its suffix is "-stine", which is derived from the Semitic Hebrew language, which has the same meaning as the Iranian word "-stan". Perhaps in the exchange of ancient civilizations, this way of calling Jews spread to the Persians, who in turn spread the language custom to Central Asia and other places.
However, the name "Pakistan" is an exception, as there is no ethnic group called "Pakistan". In fact, the term was coined in the thirties of the last century, and it was a combination of the names of the five regions of northern British India at the time: Punjab, Pashtunkh, Kashmir, Sindh, Balochistan, and the local Urdu words for "pure land" and "halal country".
The patchwork of the country's name indicates that the country is destined to lack a unified centripetal force, laying the groundwork for decades of tribal and inter-provincial struggles. Today, Pakistan still uses these five administrative divisions, plus the new capital Islamabad.
During the partition of India and Pakistan, Karachi was the capital of Pakistan, mainly because of its prosperous and prosperous coastal industry and commerce. However, such a layout is not ideal for national defense and national integration.
Therefore, in 1967, Pakistan moved its capital to Islamabad. Despite its young capital, Islamabad is located at the junction of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces and is well connected to Rawalpindi.
In fact, Islamabad is more of a suburb of Rawalpindi, and the two cities form an urban relationship similar to that of Delhi and New Delhi. The streets of Islamabad are spacious, straight, clean and tidy, but due to the inconvenience of citizens' lives, social and public services are not perfect; The roads of Rawalpindi are potholed and dirty, but they are full of shops and markets, and they are full of the smell of human fireworks.
As a result, there is a high degree of interdependence between the two cities of Islamabad and Rawalpind. To get from the capital to Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, one must first travel from the capital area to the minibus station in Rawalpindi.
The vehicle, which appeared to be a minibus, was actually a Japanese scrap car, which was severely overloaded, although it was very common in Africa. The passengers were so crowded that they didn't even have room to move.
In addition, there is a bicycle race on the side of the road, with players with different equipment wearing professional race clothes, most of the mounts under the crotch are Phoenix brand 28 bicycles, and the surrounding residents are riding various motorcycles, which is very lively. "
Peshawar, the capital of Pakistan's capital Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, is a sight to behold
On the road from Rawalpindi to Peshawar, there is a large stupa built by the Kushans in the 2nd century AD called dharmarajika stupa.
This is an ancient Buddhist holy place, and Master Xuanzang also stayed here. I used to think that Peshawar was in a depression due to terrorism, but when I visited the scene, I realized that the city is still vibrant, with the sixth largest population in the country and the ninth largest capital.
Although the city is chaotic, commercial activities are thriving, with restaurants, fruit shops, leather goods stores, cloth shops, etc.
When I first arrived in Peshawar, I tried to find some affordable hotels, but I couldn't get my way. The innkeeper told me that every foreign visitor to Peshawar needs to stay at the city's only foreign-related hotel, the Empire Hotel.
The hotel sits at a crossroads, and while the exterior decoration looks a bit like the early '00s in China, its ten-storey building looks very imposing among the surrounding two-storey buildings, which is completely in line with the "Emgrand" style.
At the entrance, there are also horse bars to prevent car bombs from approaching the hotel, and passengers have to pass through security checkpoints after entering the hotel. In addition, each room is staffed with armed guards who follow the guests closely at all times.
The purpose of this is to protect the safety of guests, and to prevent foreigners from moving freely, and if they are unfortunate enough to stray into a dangerous area, the military and police will be helpless.
In the past, the tribal areas under the direct jurisdiction of the Peshawar Federation were regarded as a state within a state, where the decrees could not be enforced, and the decisions of the tribal elders determined the functioning of all society.
Now, for nearly two decades, the Pakistani Taliban have grown in influence in the region.
Lao Youtiao, the local society is experienced, familiar with the safety information of each small area, and can also take me to taste the local food. In the restaurant, after a brief exchange of pleasantries with him, he enjoyed the meal with me.
My guard, Mohammed, was very introverted and clean-cut, and every time we went to a restaurant, he always excused himself by saying that he had already eaten and didn't want to take advantage of me. I had to invite him again and again to join us for dinner.
He was in his twenties, slightly older than me, with a beard that was popular locally, and he looked somewhat mature. Considering the previous arguments with veterans, I would very much like to understand the world of ideas and feelings of young people.
The topic began with the fact that Sharia law allows for more than four wives, and he mentioned that it is becoming less and less common for young people to marry more and more because they cannot afford it, and second, there is a change in social mores.
However, arranged marriages are still deeply rooted in the local area, and the words of parents and matchmakers are the mainstream forms of marriage. He recounted his experience, rolling up his sleeves to show the scar on his arm, whose name belonged to his ex-girlfriend.
They used to love each other deeply, but the opposition of the woman's parents led to a breakup. Due to the conservative local society, it was inconvenient to get a tattoo, so he directly carved the girl's name on the arm with a knife.
A homeless man whose parents are looking for a new partner for him, but fortunately the scars have healed and the lines of the words are no longer visible, and his future wife probably won't be bothered by this.
About his former lover, this story has been hidden deep in his heart. An eternal set of social rules has shaped the two guards' very different temperaments, and one wonders if twenty years later, that innocent and shy teenager will also become a pot-bellied old fritter.
I was eager to explore the gun-making center in the village of Darra, a few dozen kilometers south of the city, but the guards wouldn't let me in. The purpose of the bodyguards is not only to protect foreigners from walking on the streets, but more importantly, to prevent them from moving without permission, and once they enter the tribal management area, the national justice system cannot interfere.
As a compromise, Muhammad took me to visit the gun shop in the city.
In this gun shop, the owner chats with the neighbors, while the master sits cross-legged in the open space at the door, and the tools at hand can be easily found at any bicycle stand.
Most of the gun parts are manufactured and assembled in the village of Darra, while a few critical components need to be handed over to steel mills in Punjab. In the shop, the master completes the final polishing of the gun.
Although the different clans are arguing in parliament, they can still share benefits in the arms market.
A few years ago, a shrewd old man opened an antique shop in Khyber Pakhtunkhwakh. At that time, the "two-party turn" of the Sharif family, which represented the local forces in Punjab, and the Bhutto family, which represented the local forces in Sindh, dominated the country.
Suddenly, however, a new political star emerged: Imran Khan, who was elected prime minister. In addition, the "Federal Tribal Territories" in the north of the country were incorporated into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, a state within a state that was once independent of the country's judicial and administrative system, and was finally nominally outlawed.
It is said that there are more and more cases of gun shops in Peshawar *** needing to show a gun license, and the AK-47 series of guns hanging on the shelves is also rare.
These changes, as seemingly insignificant, are enough to change the political landscape of the country. And this young prime minister also became the first cabinet leader in the country's history to be removed due to a no-confidence motion.
Although we have integrated the power of the country, we can only move slowly in the face of the constraints of many forces, trying to pinch this newly shaped country into a cohesive whole.
However, it may take hundreds of years for the disputes surrounding the Punjabi, Sindhis, Pashtuns, and Balochs to settle down. On the way to the westward extension of the Belt and Road Initiative and the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, we face many challenges and uncertainties.
The planning of every project requires us to think forward. However, as long as we remain steadfast in our beliefs and move forward one step at a time, I believe that we will eventually be able to achieve our goals.
Here, I would like to thank the author Mo Xijun for his wonderful article, as well as Zhu Yan and Zhou Yun for their review and typesetting work. Thank you for your support and help.